Conversations With Death
by GuitarHeroLost
Summary: Miles sits one day in the boathouse, bored. He comes up with the idea to talk to some of those who had died on the island.
1. Chapter 1

Just something I thought up last night while trying to sleep

**Just something I thought up a couple nights ago while trying to sleep. Enjoy!**

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Hunched over on his bed in the corner of the boathouse, Miles sat, bored, with nothing to do. You'd be bored too, if you were captured and stuck in a shack the size of a closet. Who wouldn't be?

Miles sighed and stood up. He was never really good at being bored. He was always the kind of person who would complain about it minute after minute until you got really annoyed and screamed at them. But here, there was no one to complain to.

No, everyone-his captors, that is- was too worried about him and his crew coming and slaughtering them all. Miles would like nothing more at this time. The bald guy, Locke, hung him by his arms and put a grenade in his mouth, and the Arab man traded him away for Charlotte. These people _deserved _to die. Being stranded on an island for 3 months sure got you worked up. But locking up your only chance of getting off was not a good plan.

Not that it mattered. Daniel, the genius, had to have told everyone that they weren't there to rescue them. Once Miles realized that he might as well have tried to figure out where Ben was. And that actually worked; Miles found Ben and talked to him.

Miles paced up and down the small room several times before slouching against the wall. He knew there was nothing to do but think, and that angered him. He moodily kicked a bucket in front of him.

…kicked the bucket…

Miles involuntarily remembered the time back on the boat when Omar had shot down a bird with a note attached to it. It was from one of the survivors here. One line in particular stuck out in his memory. "Not all of us have survived since the crash."

Now he was perking up. People have died here, on this island. That means their spirits, who left their body, were still lingering here. Which means Miles could talk to them.

Not easily, though. It was hard to talk to the dead without a body. He'd done it, of course, but it was not easy.

But it _was _something to do. Miles would do anything for something to do. There would be plenty of people who died in the crash to talk to, and even better yet, get information from.

He sat back on the bed. This could take a while. He took a deep, calming breath and closed his eyes.

For about fifteen minutes he remained still. Only after that did he feel completely connected with the island. One small movement and that connection would be gone.

Only now, with the connection to the island, could he let his spirit loose. The island now would permit him.

Miles muttered to himself a few precisely-chosen words. This may be his hardest case yet, for it was a big island, and he had no idea where any of the other spirits were.

Miles stood up, or rather, _he _didn't. He could see his own body sitting there in the same position. It wasn't a new or shocking sight; this was totally normal.

Since he had no bodies to work with, the vision was a bit more fuzzy than usual.

Every other time the world looked normal, except everything had a lighter tint to it. The sky would be a lighter blue, the grass a lighter green. But this time was different.

Every object had no end. The ends and outlines of everything faded off into wispy trails. Everything had a white rim around it before trailing off into nothingness.

Now Miles had to figure out how he could get out of the boathouse. Occasionally he would just walk through things, but it wasn't very safe.

He emerged on the other side of the wall and saw leaves and trees with the same white perimeter and endless boundaries. Now that he got a closer look, everything seemed to be slowly swaying from side to side.

He crept through the spirit jungle carefully. Spirits couldn't feel pain, but he wasn't exactly dead. If he hurt himself here, it would hurt him in real life.

Miles made it to the beach quicker than he had expected. The endless waves were mesmerizing for a bit, but then he shook his head and glanced around. Down the beach, something caught his eye.

There was a man, not old, he was pretty young actually. He was sitting cross-legged on the beach and strumming on a guitar.

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**So no conversations yet but I think it's going to be really fun!**


	2. Chapter 2

**You guys are so awesome with your reviews and whatnot. First conversation's here, with Charlie!**

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Sometimes you can tell when you're being watched. This is what Miles thought the man was thinking when he looked up from his guitar.

"Who are you?" the boy stood up and walked over to Miles. "Is that what happens when you die? You just appear?"

"Yeah," Miles said. "You appear in the spot you died at."

"That explains why I woke up floating in water," the man shrugged. "Who are you?"

"My name is Miles," Miles explained. "Who are you and how did you die?"

"I'm Charlie," Charlie said. "I drowned."

"Were you in the plane crash?" Miles asked.

"Yeah I was," Charlie said. "It was pretty exciting, in a bad way. The only good thing that happened was that I met this beautiful girl who- dude what's up?"

Miles had suddenly jumped out of the way of a spirit crab that was scuttling towards him. "You can't get hurt here," Charlie told him. "See?" Charlie made a sudden movement towards his guitar and hurled it at Miles' head. Miles ducked right on time.

"What is wrong with you?!" Miles shouted as he hit the sand. His elbow hit a rock that was embedded in the sand. He felt no pain, but his body did.

Charlie was laughing. "Hey, man, it won't hurt you. You're dead."

"No, I'm not," Miles growled, brushing sand off of him.

"Denial," Someone behind him said. "That's the first step."

"Hey Boone, what's up?" Charlie nodded. "This is Miles. He's afraid of being hurt."

"It's hard to get used to," Boone said to Miles. "But you have to accept that you're dead. You should've seen Shannon, she was so freaked." He put on this fake high-pitched falsetto. "'I can't be dead! It is so bad for my figure!'"

Charlie laughed and Miles scowled. "I'm not dead, seriously. I can just communicate with dead people; I'm one of few people who can. So I'm alive, and I'm here, I can't get hurt, but my body can."

"Yeah, that's nice," Boone rolled his eyes. "Did you die from, like, a hit on your head or something?"

"No, I'm serious!" Miles assured them. "Ask-wait, have you two seen Naomi?"

Boone looked confused and said "Who?" while Charlie said "She's dead?"

"Yes, she's dead," Miles said. "Your buddy John Locke threw a knife in her back."

"Good," Charlie said. "Her boat wasn't coming to rescue us like I thought, but I told Desmond that it wasn't the person's boat that we thought it was."

"Don't say 'good,'" Miles almost yelled. "It's definitely _not _good; in fact, it's probably the worst thing that could've happened! I was on her boat."

Charlie's grin faded to a look of worry. "Whose boat is it? It's not Penny's, right?"

"No," Miles said. "But I might as well tell you that it's her father's, Charles."

"I died so Jack could call for rescue," Charlie went on. "He called you guys? You're on the island?"

"Whoa, now, don't get too excited," Miles said. "Yeah, he called us for rescue, but if you don't know, your group split into two groups: Those who think we're there to rescue them, and those who think we're here to _kill them."_

Charlie looked even more worried. "Are you?"

Miles thought a second before answering the same way he did with Hurley. "Not yet."

"Well, you're mad that you're dead and that Naomi's dead, so you could be lying," Charlie said.

"Or he could be telling the truth," Boone put in. Charlie glared at him.

"I'm not dead," Miles said again. "I'll bet you, seriously, fifty bucks says I'm not dead."

"We'll ask Naomi if we see her," Charlie said. "Fifty it is."

"Hey, you got all the time in the world," Miles said. "We can go look for her. I want to see her anyway."

"Hey, can I throw a fifty in there too?" Boone said. "I'm on Charlie's side. You are so dead."

Miles started walking again, this time in the jungle. He really had no idea where he was going; Naomi's body was on the boat so that wouldn't help at all. He felt lucky, though, and was confident they'd find her.

Miles became irritated that Boone and Charlie were so rowdy and were yelling and running. Boone pushed Charlie into Miles once, causing Miles to hit a thorny tree branch. He yelled at them, but once again they assured him that he was fine because he couldn't feel pain.

Miles heard footsteps ahead. He thought it could be Naomi, but when he walked forward with Boone and Charlie, there was a Nigerian man holding a large stick threateningly.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Its okay, Eko," Charlie assured him. "Miles here doesn't think he's dead."

"I know I'm not dead," Miles muttered under his breath. "Eko, is it? You surely must have heard of people who can talk with the dead. I do it for a living; that is, before I got on the boat that is going to kill all of your friends."

"I admit I have," Eko said. "But I believe that such people are frauds, or are an acquaintance of Satan."

Miles looked quite alarmed and said slowly, "Okay, well forget I said anything then. Have you seen someone named Naomi?"

"I have seen someone that is unfamiliar to me," Eko answered. "She was above average in height, with dark skin and an English accent."

"That's her!" Miles said excitedly. "When was this and which way did she go?"

"Only about fifteen minutes ago," Eko told him. "And she was walking east."

"Okay, see, now you'll know that I'm not lying," Miles said. He led the way again through where Eko had pointed, shouting "Naomi!" every few minutes.

Miles was thinking of how much better the boathouse sounded when Charlie started singing. Boone occasionally joined in, but, thankfully, Eko seemed quiet.

They heard another rustling in the bushes. Miles stepped through. "Naomi!"

"Miles!" Naomi said, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"They have me captured," Miles explained. "The man that killed you has me locked up. Some other people have Faraday and Lewis, and Lapidus headed back to the ship, I think, with two of the survivors. I got bored just sitting there."

"Oh, so you're alright?" Naomi asked. Miles nodded. "Good."

"Yeah, alright besides the fact that he croaked," Charlie added in.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Miles said impatiently. "I am not dead. Are you that stupid that I need to spell it out for you?"

"Naomi, please, you were on the same boat as this nutcase," Boone said softly. "Tell him he can't be here if he's not dead."

"Sorry," Naomi shrugged. "He's not dead. He can-what is it you do, Miles?"

"Separate my spirit from my body," Miles finished for her. "Therefore, be able to talk to ghosts. Looks like I just got an extra hundred bucks from this."

Boone and Charlie reluctantly pulled their wallets from their pockets. "So how many people live here?" Miles asked them.

"A lot," Boone answered. "We can introduce you to some of our close friends."

The group of five set off back towards the beach. "You said that our friends split themselves in half," Charlie said. "You want to tell us who's on what side?"

"No," Miles said as if it were the most obvious thing.

"Are you going to anyway?" Eko asked.

"Sure," Miles shrugged. "I don't know all of them, but on Locke's side-the side that thinks we're there to kill you-there's Locke, of course, some overweight guy, a jerk with a southern accent, Ben, whom they have captive, and a French lady and two teenagers. Oh, and there's this Australian chick and her kid."

"I understood that completely," Boone said sarcastically. "Well, I got Hurley and Sawyer from that."

"Claire!" Charlie exclaimed. "She joined Locke's side…but I thought Desmond said she was going to get on a helicopter and get rescued!"

"Well I guess he lied," Miles said. "Because we're not taking any of you home, and she's on the right side."  
Once they arrived at the beach they saw two girls tossing rocks out into the waves, and another girl sitting on a towel in the sand and watching them.

"Shan!" Boone yelled. The girl on the towel looked over at them.

"What do you want?" Shannon shouted back. Boone beckoned them to follow as he walked over to her.

"Shannon, this is Miles, and Naomi," Boone introduced. "They're from a boat that Jack called. They came to the island to rescue our friends."

"Correction," Miles interrupted. "We're here to capture Benjamin Linus and then kill all of your friends."

"Don't listen to him," Boone told Shannon. "He's just trying to scare you."

"How is Sayid doing?" Shannon asked them both.

"I don't know," Miles said, though he clearly didn't care. "I don't even know who that is."

"He's-," Shannon began, but Miles never got a chance to hear the rest.

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**I said that when I got five reviews I would put up the next chapter so here it is!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I didn't get as many reviews from the last chapter as I did from the first chapter…that makes me sad.**

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It happened all very quickly for Miles, but he was used to that. To the others, such as Shannon, Boone, Charlie, Eko, and Naomi, it would have seemed like a few seconds had gone by.

Any little disruption in the real world will snap Miles back into reality, like if you woke up early and are really tired, so over breakfast you find yourself randomly staring at the wall and suddenly your brother claps his hands in front of your eyes. This is how John Locke saw Miles, sitting, as if he wasn't even there, but when he opened the door, he blinked a few times and looked around.

But in the other world, where the dead people are, it would be much different. It would look as if little bits and pieces of him were being pulled away one at a time, like iron fillings being magnetically pulled away by a magnet. This is how those on the spirit beach would have seen it.

"What are you doing?" John asked Miles. "Who were you talking to?"

John had heard Miles talking, because his body talked out loud as he talked to the ghosts. Miles took a while to answer; he looked at his elbow and examined a scratch on it, and he felt his face which had another scratch.

"Why are you here?" Miles asked, ignoring John's questions.

"You have to come with me," John answered. "You are going to be answering my questions now."

Miles was pulled up by his tied hands. "Feeling a bit schizophrenic, are we?" John asked as he pulled Miles to a house.

"If I knew what that meant, I would answer that," Miles said.

"You were talking to yourself," John stopped in his tracks and looked inquisitively at Miles. "No one was there."

"No one that you could see," Miles said. "I'm pretty sure you knew him. There were a lot of them, actually. But the one I was talking to first was a man by the name of Charlie Pace."

"It can't be," John said eventually. "Charlie Pace died not too long ago."

"I know," Miles shrugged. "He didn't seem to know a lot about being dead so I assumed that-."

"What are you talking about?" John questioned. "You can't talk to someone who's dead."

"Yeah,_ I_ can," Miles said. "It's a hard thing to do, but, I was born with the ability or something, ever since I was young I could hear dead people whispering everywhere I went. You can ask Naomi-oh, right; no you can't because you _threw a knife in her back_."

"I had to," John said. "But…were you really talking to Charlie?"

"Yeah I was," Miles nodded. "So you believe me?"

"Not quite," John pulled Miles along again.

"He has dark, dirty blonde hair, an English accent, he's kind of short," Miles said. "And he plays guitar."

John said nothing and pulled him into a house where a few people were gathered. Miles answered questions without giving much away; in fact, Ben answered a few of them for him.

"No more secrets, huh?" Miles asked as John led him back to the boathouse. "So what about the secret that I just informed you of before we got in there?"

"You talking to dead people don't matter," John said impatiently. John turned as he heard someone running towards them from the house.

Miles listened in on Sawyer and John's conversation and at one point he laughed out loud. How ignorant these people were. "Linus will find a way to get it."

"And how will he do that?" Sawyer asked.

Miles struggled to not laugh again. "He wants to survive. And considering a week ago you had a gun to his head, and tonight he's eating pound cake... I'd say he's a guy who gets what he wants."

"So why is that not considered a secret?" Sawyer asked, ignoring Miles.

"It-it's not important," John said. "Go home, James."

"Not important?" Sawyer questioned. "And how's that?"

"Go home, James," John reiterated. Sawyer threw a dark look at them both before turning back to his house.

"Goodnight, Miles," John said as he threw him back in the boathouse.

Miles sighed as John slammed the door. What a _complete _waste of time. Maybe he would try to connect with the island again.

After a full 20 minutes of patiently sitting on his bed, he stood up. He was still in the boathouse. He walked through the wall and the jungle before finding the beach again, which was about the same as when he left it. Eko and Naomi had left, and the two girls that were throwing rocks before were sitting on the beach with Charlie, Boone, Shannon, and another new boy and girl.

"Well look whose back," Charlie yelled when he saw Miles. "What happened?"

"There was… an interruption," Miles explained. "I was forced back to earth by Locke."

"Why?" Boone asked.

"He wanted answers," Miles told them. "But Ben already knew everything so I don't know what the point of me being there was."

"You never answered my question," Shannon said impatiently. "How's Sayid?"

"You never told me who that was," Miles said.

"I did so," Shannon argued. "But _you _had to disappear in the middle of the sentence to have your tea party on Earth."

"Maybe you should complain to Locke, because you're clearly too _blonde _to see," Miles retorted. "It wasn't _my_ choice. It's a lot different when I choose to go back, I actually have to come in contact with myself and meld together."

Shannon opened her mouth to speak, but Boone interrupted. "Listen, man, just ignore her. She's always like that. Sayid is the Iraqi torturer."

"Oh, him," Miles exclaimed. "Yeah, I know him. He's a jerk."

"He's the sweetest guy I've ever met," Shannon said defensively.

"You obviously haven't met too many guys," Miles said. "I think he missed a couple of his therapy sessions or something, because something has really got his broccoli steamed."

"Listen, you," Shannon said threateningly. "I don't want to hear you badmouth him one more time, got it?"

"Sayid Jarrah is a total idiot," Miles said loudly. "No one likes him and his accent is cheesy and fake. He-,"

"Can we please have peace before a nuclear holocaust occurs?" Charlie interrupted. Miles and Shannon shot each other a hatred glare but stayed silence. "Right, well, now that that's over how's Claire?"

"Oh, well, her I know," Miles said. "She seems kind of depressed. She complains a lot and is kind of annoying. But I don't know…there's something about her that makes me think she's special. She has potential beyond anyone else. And why do you want to know anyway?"

"She was a good friend of mine," Charlie said, his face growing red.

"Oh, yeah right," one girl laughed. "You two were, like, the most perfect match on the island, besides Jack and Kate."

"Oh, please," Charlie rolled his eyes. "It's Jack and _Juliet _now. Kate's out of the picture now that she can't decide between Jack and Sawyer."

"Whatever," the girl rolled her eyes. "I'm Nikki, by the way."

"Hello, Nikki," Miles grinned. "There are a lot of people here that I don't know."

"Well, this is Paulo," Nikki indicated the man sitting next to her.

"Hey," Paulo nodded.

"I'm Elizabeth," one blonde girl smiled. "But you can call me Libby." She shook his hand politely.

"I'm Ana-Lucia," a Latina girl introduced.

"The murderer," Shannon mumbled under her breath.

"It was an accident!" Ana-Lucia bellowed.

Miles looked at Boone and Charlie in confusion. "Ana shot Shannon by accident," Charlie explained.

"Ah," Miles nodded in understanding. "Ana, I could kiss you, but I like Naomi."

"Okay, you know what?" Shannon said angrily. "I've had _enough_ of you and your nasty comments-!"

"Hey, remember what I said about the nuclear holocaust!" Charlie said. "That still holds!"

"Finally, I get something nice sent my way," Ana sighed. "All I've been getting, ever since I got here was crap from her and her brother."

"It is so entertaining here," Miles grinned. "I could stay here forever. You know back on the island Locke had me hanging from the ceiling at one point?"

"And I used to hate him," Shannon said.

"Hey, you know what'd be cool?" Miles said. "If I went up to Sayid and said, 'did you know that Shannon thinks you're a freak and good for nothing?'"

"NO!" Shannon yelled. "I'll be good!"

"I thought so," Miles smiled triumphantly.

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**Miles made an enemy! And not to mention I brought up the best ship ever in this chapter, Miles/Naomi!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I am not happy. There has been a noticeable decline of reviews with each chapter. Are my chapters getting worse? You can tell me. Be honest.**

Miles followed Charlie and Boone as they led him across the beach to meet their friends. "Okay, well, where should we start?" Charlie said, clapping his hands and looking around. "Ah, well, this here was one of the first people ever to die other than on the crash. Miles, I'd like you to meet my good friend Steve."

"Scott," he corrected.

"Yeah that too," Charlie said uncomfortably. Miles snickered.

"How good of friends can you be if you can't remember his name?" Miles asked.

"Hey, no one on that island can remember his name," Charlie said defensively. "We would always mix him up with Steve, I mean, they look practically the same."

"We look nothing alike!" Scott exclaimed.

"Actually you were really similar," Boone said honestly.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Steve," Miles said.

"I think I should legally change my name," Scott mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah," Charlie said. "Just go report your case to the Supreme Court of Island."

Scott rolled his eyes and walked away. Miles laughed. "Wow, if everyone is like that guy, I think I might like it here."

"He really does look like Scott!" Charlie said.

"That _was_ Scott," Miles told him.

"Whatever!" Charlie said impatiently. "Oh, look who it is now, our favorite person on this island, here he is. He's the reason we're all here, please put your hands together for Seth Norris, Oceanic Airlines pilot!"

Boone and Charlie clapped unenthusiastically as someone was walking by. "You know, you can't blame me. Blame your friend…what's his name? The one that didn't enter the numbers in that computer and crashed the plane?"

"How do you know about that?" Charlie said.

"Eko told me," Norris said simply. "Who are you?"

"My name is Miles Straume, most likely the only one here that does not blame you for being here," Miles said. "Wait-did that make sense? The only one that doesn't blame you for me…the only one that is here and doesn't blame you…?"

Miles went on like that and they carried on the conversation without him. "Why doesn't he blame me?" Norris asked.

"Because he's not really dead," Boone said. "It's just his spirit here-it's kind of a long story so just believe me."  
Norris nodded, though evidently confused. He walked away too. "I'd expect more people to be here on account of the crash and all," Miles said after he was done ranting.

"Well, there are," Boone said. "They don't live on the beach. We just hang out here during the day. Some of us live on the beach, but only those who really connected with the island. Like me. I was a sacrifice the island demanded. The island _wants_ me. But every else, they live in the abandoned Others' town."

"That isn't abandoned anymore," Miles muttered. "That's where Locke has me captured. There's a boathouse there by the river."

"Cool, let's go," Charlie said. They grabbed their bags and said a quick goodbye to the pilot and Scott, who were in a big argument about airline food. They also passed by Ana, Libby, Shannon, Nikki, and Paulo.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" Libby asked.

"Barracks," Charlie said. "We're going to see who lives there."

"Yeah," Boone said. "We haven't seen who's living where recently."

"I haven't ever been there," Charlie put in. "Want to tag along?"

"Is he coming?" Shannon nodded towards Miles.

"Yes," Miles said bitterly. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Then I'm not going," Shannon said stubbornly.

"Oh, come on, Shan," Boone rolled his eyes. "It's just a walk through the jungle. And anyway, you could use the exercise."

Shannon's face grew brick red with anger while everyone else cracked up laughing. She stood up, shoved her bag into Boone's hands, and said, "Give me ten minutes." She walked away.

Boone grinned proudly. "Are you all going to come along?" Boone asked the other four.

"Sure," Ana shrugged, and Libby agreed. Nikki and Paulo, however, decided to stay behind. Shannon met up with them at the tree line a few minutes later and they set off for the Barracks.

It didn't take long for them to spot the first sign of the Barracks: the boathouse. "Now you can see for yourself that I'm not dead," Miles said. "C'mon, I'll show you." He stepped inside with everyone else following him.

"Whoa, it's like, you," Boone said. He waved his hand in front of Miles' body's face. "Ha, you don't even react!" He put his hand through Miles' forehead. "It's like I'm touching air and nothing's even there!"

"Don't do that!" Miles exclaimed impatiently, pushing Boone's hand away. "You might end up hurting me! Or you may even put _your _spirit in _my _body!"

"So I'd come back to life?" Boone asked curiously.

"You know what?" Miles said. "We shouldn't even have come in here. Come on, I want to go meet people. No! Stay away from me!" he warned Shannon.

They went through the walls again and walked towards the living area of the Barracks. Spotting the first house, Boone stepped up and boldly knocked on the door.

"I'm well known around here," Boone explained. "I was one of the first to die, like I said, the island wanted me. I walk up to peoples' houses and knock on the door, just because I _can."_

Before anyone could do anything more than Shannon rolling her eyes, the door opened. "Hey," Boone greeted. "I, uh, I actually don't believe we've met before. When'd you die?"

"It was only a few days ago," the man said.

"I see," Boone said. "Well, I'm Boone, and this is Miles, Ana, Libby, Shannon, and-."

"We've met," the man grinned evilly.

"Figures," Charlie scoffed. "We've got some unfinished business anyway, don't we, _Mikhail_?"

There was silence, and everyone watched as Charlie and Mikhail glared daggers at each other. "I can just _see _the tenseness," Miles whispered after a while.

They all burst out laughing again, while Charlie shot a sharp look at them too. "Seriously, though, what's with the tenseness?" Miles asked.

"Ask him," Charlie spat, referring to Mikhail.

"Oh, come on!" Mikhail said impatiently. "It was your destiny. If you didn't die then, the universe would've course-corrected itself and killed you some other way!"

After another few moments of silence, Ana said, "Okay, let me get this straight…_he _killed you?" Ana asked Charlie.

"Blew himself up in the process," Charlie smirked.

"Ha, ha, you guys are dead!" Miles laughed in a sing-song voice.

"Have you not seen where you are?" Mikhail asked. "It looks like you're dead too."

"I'm tired of explaining," Miles sighed. "I'm a spiritualist. I talk to dead people as a job. Right now I'm just doing it because I'm bored."

"So you hate each other because you killed him?" Shannon asked Mikhail. He nodded. "Oh, hmm, does this _remind you of anything?"_ Shannon said, glancing angrily at Ana.

"I'm sorry, okay?!" Ana yelled. "It was an accident!"

"All it took was an apology," Shannon said softly. Ana rolled her eyes and said nothing.

"Really?" Mikhail asked excitedly. "I'm sorry, Charlie."

"Good, but I still hate you," Charlie said.

"Dude, what's going on over here?" someone asked from behind Mikhail.

"Oh, who's this now?" Miles sighed.

Once again, an intense silence swept over them all. "You couldn't break the tenseness with a hammer," Miles said softly.

**Okay, I know I introduced only one more character as a conversation but all in all I think it's a pretty good chapter. Do you agree? Tell me in your reviews!**


	5. Chapter 5

"Murderer!" Ethan yelled at Charlie.

"Kidnapper!" Charlie shouted back.

"That is no reason to kill someone!" Ethan argued.

"Who knows what you were going to do to her?" Charlie said. "I did what I had to for Claire's protection. And I'd do it again."

"I would strangle you, but I can't, seeing as I'm already _dead_," Ethan said.

"Sucks to be you," Miles said slowly.

Ethan glared at Miles. "Who is this guy?"

"Miles," Miles introduced himself. "And I'm not dead. And I'm not explaining why, just take my word for it, 'kay?"

"Who else lives around here Mikhail?" Boone changed the subject.

"Uh, who doesn't live here?" Mikhail said as they all walked around to the next house. "Basically everyone who was on the island is now dead. But here at this house," Mikhail stopped, pointing at the neighboring place. "I don't know Naomi's roomie, but otherwise, this is Naomi's house."

"Seriously?" Miles asked excitedly.

"We're here to meet new people, Miles," Libby reminded him.

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They had started a bonfire and were gathered around it. Some of the Barracks residents joined them including Leslie Arzt, Naomi, Regina (who turned out to be Naomi's new roommate who had just died that same day), Scott, Seth, Nikki, Paulo, Goodwin, and Danny & Colleen Pickett.

"So I know that you and Claire and a thing," Miles said to Charlie. "And you and the Arab guy," he continued to Shannon.

"I know you know his name," Shannon said.

"But who else?" Miles asked, completely ignoring Shannon's comment.

"Why don't you guess?" Charlie suggested.

"Oh, that should be fun," Boone said sarcastically.

"Okay, okay!" Miles exclaimed. "Uh…you," Miles said to Nikki. "And…" he thought about if for a while.

"Wow, how stupid can you get?" Shannon muttered.

"Listen, lady," Miles said impatiently. "I don't know all of those yahoos down at the ranch, so I need some time, got it?" Shannon didn't say anything.

"It's me," Paulo said after a while.

"Goodness, get some patience, please," Miles said. "Okay well I was thinking of live people so that opens up a whole lot of new opportunities. Anyway, Boone, and…" He thought about it for a bit and then gasped. "Oh! There was a love triangle with you!" He pointed to Shannon.

Everyone was laughing hysterically (except for Boone and Shannon, who both looked like they were going to throw up) and Miles looked confused. "What?"

Libby tapped him on the shoulder and he turned her way. "They're brother and sister," she said softly.

"Oh-Oh!" Miles laughed. "Sorry, man, but if it wasn't her then who was it?"

"You know, some of us died before we could have a 'thing' with anybody," Boone said grumpily.

"Who else besides you?" Miles asked.

Miles watched as the hands of Boone, Norris, Scott, and Arzt rose. "So you're raising your hand because you think you died quickly, or because you never had a relationship with anyone?"

"Both," Norris told him.

"And they're married, so count them out too," Ethan added, referring to Danny and Colleen.

"That narrows it down," Miles said. "Um, Goodwin and…uh, the blonde one! Not Claire, but…Juliet!"

Several people applauded him and Miles bowed dramatically. "Nice," Goodwin said. "And your first guess, too."

"Mikhail," Miles began next.

"Nope," Mikhail shook his head.

"Um, okay," Miles said. "Ethan?"

"Sorry, no," Ethan said.

"Libby!" Miles exclaimed. Libby just smiled and waited for him to continue. "Yes! Okay, um…Jack?" She shook her head and smiled still. "Ford?"

"Still no," Libby grinned.

"I give up!" Miles said.

"I don't know if you know him, but his name is Hurley," Libby told him. Miles burst out laughing.

"Are you serious?" Miles chuckled. Libby nodded again. "Wow, isn't he a bit too big for you?"

Everyone else laughed at this. "Hey, he's a really nice guy," Libby protested. "Whatever, go ahead and laugh, see if I care."

"Nah, sorry Libby," Ana said sincerely. "You two made a cute couple until Michael killed us both."

"Speaking of cute couples," Miles said after his laughing fit was over. "I think you and Jack would make a good pairing."

"Are you kidding?" Charlie said. "She and Kate both have, like, ten guys. And what's with you and pairing people up with Jack?"

"Yes, but I really don't see her and Jack," Boone said. "I sort of more see her and Sawyer."

"No way," Nikki said. "It's got to be her and Jack."

"Sawyer," Boone said forcefully.

"Jack," Nikki said with equal defiance.

"Ana, settle this, would you?" Boone turned to Ana.

"Well, um," Ana stammered. "I was never really _with _either of them…"

"Then which would you rather be with?" Nikki asked her kindly.

"Uh, I think," Ana began. "I think I'm going to have to go with Sawyer."

"Yes, ha," Boone said triumphantly.

"Well, that's okay, I guess," Nikki said. "Because that would leave Jack and Kate, and they're the most perfect couple ever."

"Didn't you say that about me and Claire earlier?" Charlie asked.

"No, I said you were the perfect match, besides Jack and Kate," Nikki said.

"That's not fair," Charlie pouted. "No one else was ever even considered paired up with me or Claire."

"Actually, when I was still alive," Paulo said matter-of-factly. "I heard a lot of talk on the beach about her and that Scottish guy-Desmond."

"And," Miles decided to put in. "I totally see her and Ford right now. Now that you're out of the picture, that is."

"This is so wrong," Charlie said. "Let's talk about something else."

Before they could make fun of Charlie any further, someone walked out of a house. "Hey, what's going on out here?"

"Uh oh," Ethan muttered. "Hier kommt trouble."

Tom had made his way over to them. "Well, hello, who is this?" Tom grinned, referring to Miles.

"Uh, Tom, this is Miles," Danny said slowly. "Miles, meet Tom."

"Hey," Miles said vaguely.

"Hello," Tom said and sat down next to him. "What are we doing out here?"

"Just talking," Colleen answered. But once again, the conversation was interrupted by two people emerging from the woods, looking very panic-stricken.

"What's going on?" one of them panted. "Who are you guys?"

"Karl?" Goodwin questioned. "What happened?"

"No, no," Karl said nervously. "This isn't right, you're dead!"

They all exchanged looks. "It's always hard to comfort the newbies," Boone said.

"What are you talking about?" Karl yelled. "You-you're all dead!"

"I know," Colleen said comfortingly. "But so are you."  
**Tom seems to have taken a liking to Miles. And now Karl & Rousseau are here.**


	6. Chapter 6

**This may be the last chapter for a long time…sorry everyone! Vacations, you know?**

"Someone tell me what is going on here," Karl said loudly.

"What's the last thing you remember doing?" Boone asked.

"Well," Karl said slowly. "I was in the woods and talking to Alex. Something hit my water bottle and…I fell to the ground, and when I got up, I was alone. Then she appeared." He indicated Danielle.

"And you?" Boone said to Danielle.

"He had just been shot," Danielle pointed to Karl. "I was trying to get Alex to run from whoever was shooting at us. I fell and when I got up, he was standing there."

"Yup," Boone nodded. "Can't you see? You were both shot. This is your new home."

Karl sat down and put his head in his hands. "Cheer up, Karl," Goodwin said. "At least you know Alex is safe. I mean, _she's_ not here, is she?"

"No," Karl said. "So…who're you guys?" He asked as if he had just noticed they were there.

"Survivors," Ana told him.

"And where are we?" Karl questioned.

No one had an answer to that. "You're in a different universe," Miles answered. "Like…A different world that looks just the same. You're still on that island. You're spirit still exists here."

Karl looked at him, confused. "I don't get it."

"_You_ wouldn't," Miles said. "Not many people do."

"Um, alright," Karl said slowly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey, Miles," Charlie called. Everyone was out wandering around.

"What?" Miles said.

"You know, earlier," Charlie began. "You had said that Claire had 'potential beyond anyone else.' What did you mean?"

Miles laughed. "What did I mean?"

"Miles," Charlie whined. "Be serious."

"Fine, fine," Miles sighed. "Uh, well, you know how I'm like, here, but I'm not dead?" Charlie opened his mouth to say something, but Miles cut him off. "Of course you do, I'm talking to you. Anyway, people like me can tell when other people have certain powers like me. But don't get your hopes up to have her traipsing out of this jungle saying she's not dead. It doesn't work that way."

"Well then how does it work?" Charlie asked.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that she can talk to the dead," Miles informed him. "She could have a connection to the island, see the future. Yeah, that sounds familiar doesn't it?"

Charlie shook his head. "No, not for Claire, but it does sound familiar."

Miles was gone. "Uh oh," Charlie muttered. "Hey, he left again!"

"Weird," Boone said.

"Good," Shannon said. "I was tired of him anyway."

"Oh, whatever, Shannon," Boone said. "You enjoyed his company. You were talking with him, laughing at his jokes. And you know what they say." Boone grinned at the confused look on Shannon's face. "Opposites attract."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Miles was whipped back into reality. He blinked and looked around for the distraction that made him leave. He didn't see it, but he heard it. People were running and yelling outside of his door.

"Hey!" Miles shouted. "I'm in here! Get me out!"

The door was kicked down in a cloud of dust and wood chips. It was one of the men from his freighter, Mayhew.

"What's going on?" Miles asked him.

"We're getting Linus, now," he responded. He then turned and ran along with the rest of the men.

Miles shrugged and joined them. "Hey, who's that?" he asked, pointing to someone with their hands tied and mouth gagged.

Mayhew grinned. "That would be Alex, Linus's daughter."

Alex. That name sounded familiar. _I was in the woods and talking to Alex._ It all made sense. "Hey, when you got her," Miles said. "Was she alone? Did you kill some people to get her?"

"It's what you got to do," Mayhew shrugged. "And how would you know about that anyway?"

Miles didn't answer. Fortunately, before Mayhew could press on, Keamy walked over to them. "You," he said to Miles. "Take this and go into that house. Give it to Linus. Now."

Miles nodded and took the walkie like Keamy told him to. He walked slowly over to the house and rang the doorbell. When someone answered, they grabbed his shirt and pulled him in.

Miles argued with Ben and Sawyer for a bit. "Just take it!"

"Why would I talk to them?" Ben questioned defiantly.

Miles rolled his eyes. "Because they have a hostage!"

"Well, then they've badly miscalculated, 'cause every single one of my people is prepared to die in service to this island," Ben said.

Miles was very impatient. He didn't want Alex to get hurt. What would Karl think about that? "It's your daughter."

Miles was glad to see Ben give in and start talking to Keamy. Keamy was smart; he knew that he wasn't supposed to hurt Ben's daughter. But Ben didn't know that.

And then he heard the gunshot. He felt a familiar cold, windy feeling. The feeling that he gets when someone close dies.

Claire walked out of a room when Ben left. "Yeah, a bit wobbly, but, uh, I'll live."

Think again. "Well I wouldn't be so sure about that."

They gave him a strange look. Miles remember the deal. They weren't to hurt his daughter, and he wasn't to release his monster. The deal's off. The monster's loose.

Ben ordered them all outside where they stood watching the scene of the monster. When Mayhew ran out of the jungle just to be pulled back in by the monster, Miles couldn't take it. He turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Miles stuck with them as to not get hurt. "How's your head?" Sawyer asked Claire. Miles smirked; it was just like he had told Charlie. He could definitely see Ford and her now that he was gone.

"It's better," Claire said. "Bit of a headache, but at least I'm not seeing things anymore."

Once again, it was just like he had told Charlie. Miles had a feeling he knew what 'seeing things' meant.

"Yeah?" Miles questioned. "What'd ya see?"

"Back off, Donger," Sawyer said warningly.

"Just making conversation," Miles said defensively. Dang-she wouldn't tell when he was around.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alex was there. They had decided to go find Miles in the boathouse. Once they got there and realized he wasn't there, they split up to go find him.

Alex, Danielle, and Karl were looking for him too. "Hey," Alex whispered and stopped suddenly. She pointed ahead and they saw three people-live people, so they couldn't communicate. "Is that him?"

"No," Karl said. "Wait-there he is! He's just standing there-I wonder what's up."

"He sure has been gone for a while," Danielle said.

"Why is he digging?" Karl said quietly. "Wait…isn't this where we died?"

"Somewhere around here," Danielle told him.

"And that's Sawyer," Karl pointed.

"And Claire and her baby," Alex continued.

"We should be going back," Karl said. "We need to be at the Barracks soon. Let's go."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Who are Danielle and Karl?!" Miles was almost yelling now, although he knew precisely who Danielle and Karl were.

"You mean Rousseau?" Claire asked. "The French woman?"

Miles dropped to the ground. He scraped the group with his hands until he found her. "Is this your French woman?"

"Karl," Sawyer muttered. So Sawyer knew him too. "How'd you know they were down there? Your buddies do this?"

"They're not my buddies, man," Miles said nervously. No, he'd met Karl and Danielle, _they_ were his friends. Not the murderers who killed them in the first place. "I didn't sign up for this."

"Can we just get out of here, please?" Claire looked like she was going to be sick. "Can we just go?"

**Whoa, this chapter was completely pointless. Don't expect me to update soon, because I probably can't. I'll be on month-long hiatus.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Guess what? I'm not dead. Despite what you may think, I am alive. **

Miles could tell something was going to happen. Something had happened to Claire and her connection to the island was clearly about to get much, much stronger. He was watching her so he could tell Charlie what was up. Nothing at all seemed to be going on; all she was doing was playing with her kid.

"Don't even think about it."

Miles looked up. Sawyer was giving him a very cold look. "What?"

"Don't look at her. Don't talk to her. Don't mess with her," Sawyer ordered. "You got a restraining order. 20 feet."

Miles could have laughed. He thought he was looking at her like _that._ He clearly couldn't tell something was up. "What are you, her big brother?"

"No," Sawyer said, getting more frustrated by the minute. "I'm the guy that's gonna put a boot in your face unless you say 'Yeah, I getcha.'"

_Ah, how sweet, _Miles thought sarcastically. He made a mental note to count how many colors Charlie's face turned when he told him about that. "Yeah, I getcha."

Sawyer glared at him and stomped off. Miles couldn't help but smirk once he was gone and throw one last glance at Claire before heading off too.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Boone and Charlie saw Miles walking through the jungle. "Where do you think they're going?"

"I don't know," Boone said uncertainly. "But wherever it is, none of them look too happy. We should follow them."

"Yeah, why not?" Charlie shrugged. "I mean…it's not like we have anything better to do. Last I recall the most exciting thing we did today was attempt to find a new string for my guitar."

"Hey, at least we found one," Boone said.

"After 2 1/2 hours of looking," Charlie said. "Honestly, do you not know what a guitar string looks like? It's not that complicated."

"Let's just go," Boone muttered. "They're getting ahead."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"They're getting ahead."

Miles was getting annoyed from the constant whispers that were around him. He recognized it to be Boone and Charlie. It wasn't easy to hear what they were saying, but he understood it. It was still annoying.

"I can hear you, you know," he said finally. The whispers ceased immediately. "Right now I just want to get back to the beach safely. I'm still kind of freaked from that smoke thing."

Suddenly he stopped. Sawyer and Claire were both looking at him as if expecting him to say something. That was a downfall in his job; he would get mixed up between two worlds and miss out on things. "Sorry, what?" Miles asked.

"I asked who you were talking to," Sawyer said.

Miles glanced around quickly before slowly answering, "Was I talking?"

"Yeah, you were," Sawyer said, getting impatient. "But no one is there. Why were you talking?"

"I wasn't," Miles said convincingly. "It's probably just your mind playing tricks on you. I'm sure it's not that hard. Now I thought you wanted to get back to your beach camp quickly." Miles walked forward a bit, then stopped. "Well, I don't know the way!"

Sawyer and Claire gave him one last weird look before moving forward. Miles smirked and followed them.

They walked in silence for a while before the whispering started again. _Boone and Charlie really don't get the picture._

Miles could stand it for about 2 minutes. Extremely annoyed, he turned around and said quietly, "Would you stop? I'm sure you have better things to do, or do you enjoy seeing this guy with your girlfriend?" Miles heard Boone start to laugh.

"Hey!" Sawyer yelled. Miles turned back towards him. "Now you're gonna tell me," Sawyer began menacingly. "Why you're talking when there ain't no one there."

"I'm really concerned," Miles said. "I don't know why you keep imagining things. Maybe-,"

"Okay, we both know you were talking!" Claire snapped suddenly. "And for whatever reason, you won't tell us, but if you answer his question, we can keep going!"

Miles was silent for a moment. "I want to get back to your beach soon, don't you?"

"I want to figure out why you're being such a spaz," Sawyer growled.

Miles sighed. He figured he'd try the truth and see how they reacted. He could use some entertainment. Imitating _The Sixth Sense_, Miles whispered, "I see dead people."

Sawyer and Claire both sighed and rolled their eyes. "You ain't gonna tell us what's up? Fine. Then you ain't gonna eat either."

Miles shrugged. He could always get food from the Barracks. He started to walk again, and when he passed Claire, he said, "Charlie says hi."

Tears immediately formed in Claire's eyes, and Sawyer gave her a sympathetic look before asking Miles, "How do you know Charlie?"

"I _told _you," Miles shrugged. "I talk to dead people. When you heard me talking, I was speaking to Boone and Charlie." There was a pause, and Miles appeared to be listening intently. "Boone says hi too."

Sawyer and Claire glanced at each other, alarmed. "How do you-were you telling the truth?" Claire whispered. Miles nodded. "Prove it."

"Prove it?" Miles questioned. "I can't prove it! Wait-," he turned around again. "Would you two mind if you were to occupy the bodies of animals?" More silence. Miles grimaced. "They said they would like to keep the little amount of dignity they have left."

Miles laughed as the unheard-by-Claire-and-Sawyer protests broke out from Boone and Charlie. "Oh, come on, Charlie, Claire would still like you if you were in the form of a rabbit or something…"

"Okay, I figured it out," Sawyer said. "You're crazy. I don't know how you know about those two, but I do know that you're whack."

"Shh…" Miles hushed. "Listen carefully. Guys, says something." Miles suddenly stumbled forward a bit and jerked his hands up to his ears. "No need to yell! If they have the ability, they will hear you without shouting."

"What are we supposed to be hearing?" Claire asked.

"There's nothing to hear," Sawyer told her. "C'mon, this guy's loony." He gently grabbed Claire's arm and turned around halfway, and then-

"He's not."

Sawyer and Claire whirled around, because they knew the voice that spoke. It was one they hadn't heard in a very long time. Standing feet away from them was a dim outline of Boone Carlyle, accompanied by the dim outline of Charlie Pace.

They looked as if nothing had changed, except for the fact that Boone had longer hair. But there was something about them that they all could feel wasn't right-a feeling of emptiness. Even so, it was unmistakably them. Miles' eyes had gone vacant of any sign of life.

"Charlie…?" Claire whispered, extending her arm out towards him, but he shook his head and stepped back.

"Don't give him a hard time," Charlie said. "He's a good guy."

"Yeah," Boone agreed. "We can't stay for long. He'd be exhausted." Boone nodded to Miles.

"And Shannon's cooking hotdogs on the bonfire at the Barracks as we speak!" Charlie added excitedly.

"That too," Boone grinned. "Well…see you around…or not." They both vanished and it looked as if they were made of sand and had been blown away by the wind.

Once they were completely gone, Miles fell to his knees. He put his hand to his head and sighed. "So am I allowed to eat with you, or can I go have hotdogs with Shannon, Boone, and Charlie?"

…**wait…why would Shannon eat hotdogs?**

**Don't question this chapter. You know that dead people have been seen by live people in like every episode.**


	8. Chapter 8

**So sorry for the wait…extreme writer's block.**

4. White, red, pink, and some maroon color. Charlie's face turned four colors when Miles told him about how protective Sawyer was over Claire.

"I don't believe it," Charlie muttered, arms folded. "I see how it is. He just pretended to like Kate, just until I was out of the picture, so he could take Claire for his own! I bet he and Desmond were working together on this. All that 'future' stuff was a lie. That was a well thought out murder scheme!"

"Yeah," Miles said carelessly, munching on a hot dog and not really having any idea about what Charlie was talking about. "That's probably exactly how it went."

Charlie glared at him. "You know, that would've been the perfect time to reassure me that she's still mourning my death and doesn't have time to think about Sawyer."

"Look on the bright side, Charlie," Nikki smiled at him. "Now Jack can have Kate!"

"No," Charlie shook his head. "Sawyer can have Kate and Jack can have Juliet or Jack can have Kate and Sawyer can have Juliet…I don't care! All I know is that Claire can miss me extremely, no matter what."

"So let me get this straight," Miles said slowly. "You'd rather have everyone _except _Claire happily paired up, then have Claire live a peaceful life with someone she loves?"

Everyone laughed while Charlie was at a loss for words. Paulo, however, took up the chance to make Charlie feel even worse. "No Miles, if Jack's with Juliet and Sawyer's with Kate, that leaves Claire to be happily paired up with Desmond!"

"Desmond loves Penny," Charlie moaned, holding his head. "And this is torture. Just kill me already."

"Charlie, I hate to be the one to disappoint you," Shannon began. "But you're already dead."

"And correct me if I'm wrong," Miles interjected loudly before Charlie could say anything. "But I remember a certain 2 people trying to convince me that you can't get hurt here, so how can it possibly be torture?"

"_Emotional _torture!" Charlie said.

"Who wants s'mores?" Boone asked, saving poor Charlie from any more 'emotional torture.' There was a burst of voices yelling 'me!' or 'I do!' "Alright, Shannon, go get some graham crackers."

"I don't have any," Shannon told him. "Get your own."

"Are you trying to convince me you didn't have two unopened boxes yesterday?" Boone asked. "Because I know you did. You, Shannon, would only eat that much to make yourself throw it all up again."

"You know, I think I have some graham crackers to spare," Libby said tentatively before any more fighting could occur. She hurried into a nearby house.

"You know what's sad?" Scott said suddenly. "We're dead, in some weird world where we basically have anything we want, and yet we still don't have rescue."

"You know, Steve, that's a good point," Boone said thoughtfully.

"It's also sad that no one can remember my name!" Scott exclaimed loudly.

"Oh, sorry Steve," Boone corrected. "But seriously, why can't we be dead back home?"

"This is your home now," Ethan told them. "Get used to it. It's a nice place."

"This place could never be home," Charlie said, glaring at Ethan, who glared back.

"Ha, I can leave whenever I want to!" Miles mocked. Several people hit him on the shoulder. "You seriously shouldn't be worrying about rescue. You have all the time in the world."

"Can't we just-?" Shannon began, but Miles held up a silencing hand.

"I'll be right back," Miles said slowly, then vanished.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sawyer was still fast asleep, and Claire didn't notice that Miles was awake. She was probably distracted by the guy who she had just called 'Dad.' He inconspicuously listened to their brief conversation.

"Dad," Claire said softly. "What are you-how did you get here?"

"Shh, Claire," her dad hushed. "No need to wake your friends."

"But how-?" Claire began.

"Claire, please, lower your voice," he interrupted. "I was on your plane and one of the residents of the island has kindly kept me safe this whole time."

"Why did you come here?" Claire yelled. "I told you I want nothing to do with you! Get your hands off of my son!"

"Honestly," her dad shook his head. "Kids don't know the meaning of be quiet." He wordlessly handed Aaron back to Claire. "I came to you, Claire, because I was concerned about you and my son wasn't ready. Jack," he added at Claire's confused expression. "Now I'm sure you have a lot of questions, and I'll be happy to answer them as best I can, but not here."

Claire glared at him angrily for a moment before asking, "Where?"

"I told you one of the islanders here kept me safe for a bit," he said. "I'd like you to come with me to his house."

"Why?" Claire asked.

"Because if we stayed here, your friend Miles would be very surprised to see me," he said.

"How do-?"

"Questions later," her dad interrupted. "Will you come?" He stood up and held out a hand to help her up. She pushed it aside and got up herself. "I think you misunderstood me, Claire, your son can't join us."

"Can't join us?" Claire questioned loudly. "He's my son, I can't just leave him!"

"Listen, I've got it all sorted out," her dad told her. "There's a crib, a few hundred feet from here."

"I am not leaving Aaron in the middle of the jungle, alone!" Claire shouted. Sawyer stirred a bit in his sleep but didn't wake up."

"I can arrange for them to find him," he said, nodding towards Sawyer and Miles. She looked like she was about to say something, but he interrupted. "Remember what I said about the questions, Claire. I promise, you two will be reunited someday."

Tearfully, Claire hugged Aaron and trekked into the jungle after her father. Miles watched the now empty spot for a minute before remembering that he told Shannon he'd be right back. He quickly returned to the other world-which was becoming much easier-and sprinted to the Barracks.

The group of people snacked off of a try of s'mores while they watched Ana and Shannon argue.

"Maybe you shouldn't be wandering into the jungle after your imaginary friends!" Ana yelled to Shannon.

"Maybe you shouldn't be shooting off your gun at any noise you hear!" Shannon shouted back.

"It's been, like, two months!" Ana yelled. "I think you have some grudge holding issues!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Shannon said sarcastically. "I thought it would be appropriate to not immediately forgive the person who shot me dead!"

"I killed Goodwin," Ana said. "And we're cool, right Goodwin?" She held out a hand for him to hi-five.

"Yeah!" he said, slapping her hand.

"Well, there's a difference," Shannon exclaimed. "You killed him on purpose and me by accident."

"And that should make me forgive him sooner?" Ana asked.

Miles decided to make his presence noted. "Hey Charlie, did you know Jack was Claire's brother?"

It immediately became quiet. "No kidding?" Charlie asked. "What went on back there?"

Miles told them the entire conversation.

"Why would you be surprised to see him?" Libby questioned.

"Because he wasn't supposed to be there," Miles told her.

**I should seriously write a story about that. Claire going to Jacob's cabin and Christian answering her questions.**


End file.
